Distro choice for new Linux, but not computer, user?

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
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Ok, so:

I was already considering switching to a Linux system for my next PC build, working in web development IRL I’ve seen the many advantages it has. After discovering Linux gaming has come far along, with an ability to actually enjoy your experience (while it’s still not quite plug-in-play), it all but confirmed my switch.

Now comes the process of choosing my distro, I’ve narrowed it to two different distros. Here are what I think might be a good idea, if you have another recommendation please let me know.

Elementary os
From what I understand this is a powerful distro, that sort of hinges on the idea of Windows or macOS users switching to Linux. It’s very nooby friendly, with lots of support, and a great introduction to the Linux environment. If I want an install, nothing else, experience this is a good choice. Save, fixing the close buttons to match my Windows way.

Manjaro
This, to me, seems like the Distro that would fit my preferences best. I really want a KDE Desktop environment and Manjaro has differen’t releases. I also just like the general feel of it when playing around in vms.

However, its Arch Linux based. And forums make this out to be the very big bad scary, only for advanced users, Linux you don’t want to touch. So really, when it comes to whether or not I should use this, is quite simple. I am new to Linux, but not new to computers. I am pretty advanced within my Windows environment (as much as you physically can be), and understand the inner workings of a computer. I am a CS person, and I can read documentation/instruction manuals. Would I, an 18-year-old with a computer in my hands since birth, be able to adequately maintain a Manjaro system?

(As a side note, I’m getting a slight case of anticipation for switching to Linux. I know, a bit nerdy to get hype for the switching of your OS. I might switch before a new PC and use my existing build. (because of the giddiness). Are there any windows-based tools that make a switch to a Linux system easier? I can save my files using external drives; However, Linux users are crafty, and the idea they developed a windows10 to Linux custom iso (or something) to upgrade a system doesn’t sound to hashed. At least a program compatibly checker, what you would lose/keep)

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Solus is more user friendly than Elementary, and Antergos is better than manjaro in a lot of cases if you want arch-like features.

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I second the Antergos over Manjaro. Antergos is Arch with an GUI installer and theme pack and uses Arch repos. Manjaro has more changes from stock Arch.

If you are a very advanced windows user then an Arch based distro would be not very hard to maintain.

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I use Antergos, great experience so far. If I get any errors during updates, copy and pasting the error usually solves the issue. If the web can’t solve my issue, I post on the small Linux problem thread

Make sure you get a LTS version if you don’t want to deal with minor issues on a rolling release.

For the Windows file system, I would get a 120 gb drive dedicated to Linux have a separate drive for Windows and have the two OS’s share a mass storage drive. That way you don’t have the headache of Windows deleting grub

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An advantage of Linux is that you can boot up and run an install image in live mode. If you haven’t done that, I’d really recommend it. One reason is subjective: Do I like it? The other reason is objective: Does it get along with my hardware? If a hardware component isn’t recognized in live mode (rare these days), it is unlikely to be recognized after the install unless an update provides the fix.

Like many other distributions, Elementary is based on Ubuntu. The current release is based on the previous, but still supported, long-term support release of Ubuntu 16.04. A beta version based on the 18.04 Ubuntu LTS is available. Elementary does not announce target release dates. But I’d bet on before the end of August.

Elementary has well-developed ideas of user interface design and applies them in its own software packages. You can also draw packages from the very large Ubuntu repositories, but few, if any, will follow Elementary’s design protocols. Not a problem in my experience but it can introduce some inconsistencies.

My own experience with a few installs of Manjaro is that, within a few weeks, something has always happened that convinces me to stop using it. While Manjaro holds off distributing Arch’s updates for a few weeks, I’ve never really been too sure what Manjaro is doing with them during that interval. In any case, my own Manjaro experience doesn’t reflect anyone else’s experience. And their KDE release stays current with the pretty rapidfire updates coming from the KDE devs and looks good.

In the end, if you want to focus on tailoring Linux to meet your web development needs with a reduced burden of learning distribution-specific approaches and nuances, I would say go with Elementary or one of the other popular Ubuntu derivatives. There is, for example, Kubuntu, the KDE version of Ubuntu, if you’re destined to run KDE. Linux Mint 19 is based on Ubuntu 18.04. I’ve found the Linux Mint Cinnamon release to be very nice.

I think you have to assess the advantages of a rolling release distro like Manjaro or Antergos against the increased risk of something, eventually, going wrong. If you want to focus on Linux as a production tool and a non-rolling release offers the stability and software you need, I’d argue go with that.

If you are thinking about building a new system for Linux: If you are going to have hardware compatibility problems it’s probably going to happen with the very latest hardware releases. Vendors typically ensure Windows drivers are ready before a new product hits the market. Linux support may come later, and may evolve and mature through a number of successive kernel release.

Buying last year’s latest and greatest is not a bad idea re: Linux compatibility.

As you probably know, AMD video cards have very good open source support from AMD, while Nvidia releases no source. Nvidia Linux driver development and Linux kernel development follow their own paths and it is not rare for a new driver from Nvidia to cause problems with a current kernel or for a new kernel to cause problems with a current Nvidia driver. Ubuntu ships with a tool that installs the appropriate Nvidia proprietary driver for an installation, and they are reasonably conservative about updating it, which is a good thing. AFAIK, they also test their Nvidia driver against their new kernels before releasing them to the update channel. Not all distributions do that.

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Thanks for the replies, everyone!

After looking into, I think I’ve made my decision.

I’ll be using Kubuntu for the first 6 - 7 months of learning Linux, as a bit of a stable training environment, and then ill switch over to Antergos when I am more familiar with Linux.

(If anyone still has any further suggestions, please respond, always happy to hear input.)

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Sounds like a good way to get your toes wet!

I used ubuntu/kubuntu for 8+ years before finally making the switch to Arch now - mainly cause of the whole scary sounding everything will break consistently posts on the internet.

Since putting Arch on all my machines I haven’t had anything break on my yet, though if something does eventually break it will take some command line-fu to fix, easy for me now but would probably be scary for the me of years back.

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Thank the gods you aren’t looking at mint.

I would say Elelmentary is an excellent choice for starting out. I would go that route as it will handle all the BS with VMS and stuff out of the box better than arch. At least my past experiences have proven that out. Certainly arch is great, I’m on it right now under Netrunner Rolling, just not the best thing for people who don’t know the lingo yet.

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This is an excellent idea, and a pretty smart way to go about it. You won’t burn out with frustration from many of the pitfalls that can occur with a rolling release distribution. You may find you like Ubuntu after the next few months, and if that’s the case, don’t fight it. I’ve moved around to a couple of distributions based on various needs but I generally always have an Ubuntu laptop, and I go back to it on my desktop once in a while (like now lol).

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Generally speaking, every distro can do pretty much the same thing. It’s all based on the same upstream code, and all of the major distros package a ton of software. Unlike Windows, where some features simply aren’t available unless you have the right version (Home vs Pro), in Linux it just comes down to that feature being enabled by default or not.

Every distro does something right, and they all do things to piss me off. Play around with a few of them, just to get an idea of what your options are, and then really get to know the one that pisses you off the least.

The best distro is the one you know well enough to truly make your own, and any of them can meet that goal.

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Arch Linux

Not even trolling - the arch wiki made it very easy for me to build my own system and solve íssues with hardware and software. I wish more distributions had something similar to the arch wiki.

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Arch hypetrain.inc? Just kidding, using it like journalctl:“Logs begin at Sun 2017-09-10 14:04:40 CEST, end at Thu 2018-07-26”
and feels awesome (in many cases). If you ask me I would say arch_wiki is pretty good, all in all its all about user’s choice and he shall test “a lot” of distros untill he finds one that suits him: even if it is Slackware Kappa123 :slight_smile:

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In a not unrelated note to this thread, I just swapped put an AMD card for an Nvidia card, tried and failed to install Nvidia’s driver and the 4.18.rc6 kernel on Fedora 28, Linux Mint 19 and Ubuntu 18.04.1. All failed. In the same way.

I’m putting the AMD card back in.

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Were you using the nvidia driver from the distro package repositories, or downloaded from nvidia.com?

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A good suggestion for any user (new or veteran) is to use a good recovery application. For timeshift is a great choice. Very good control of recovery snapshots and you can also use it with a live USB thus recover even if you cannot login.

That way there is practically nothing to be worried about. No matter how much you break your system experimenting you can always recover.

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Used 390.48 from RPMFusion or the Canonical repos via the drivers tool.

Found several references to that version working with RC6 and none to it not working. C’est la vie.

Nvidia and Fedora sometimes part ways on kernel updates so the failure there was irritating but not surprising.

In all 3 cases, the install process was normal. Each time, though, the reboot was into Nouveau.

The reasons for the attempted switch were trivial. I have a Ryzen 2700x running in a Fractal Design Meshify C case. I wanted to see if the NVidia card would leave enough room for an AIO water cooler in the front; the AMD card leaves about 2 millimeters of space. (Yes, I need to actually do some measuring.)

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…to get back to the topic… :stuck_out_tongue: I agree with AdminDev about Ubuntu. What took me years to understand is that all this “learn on an easy distro first and then move to arch” is pretty much not true and “easy” to use beginner distros just help you get to where you want faster and easier if you will.

But my actual advice: Try all of them!
Seriously, get a second SSD and a thumb drive and, beside your standard distro, but another one on that second SSD each month - some with KDE, some with Gnome3, some with Mate(/Gnome2), some rolling, some LTS. Once you know what works for you, ignore everyone else and stick with it.
(Yes, Ubuntu Gnome and openSuse with Gnome3 work best for me…and I dislike Elementary for the walled garden they build with their own software in a way… :stuck_out_tongue: )

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or just separate your /home partition.

elementary is just solus done badly, agreed

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I nuked my /home and Grub and all one too many times to ever trust myself with such things ever again. If it can be deleted, I will find the setting.

…talking about that and distros, did someone recommend Suicide Linux?


“Any time - any time - you type any remotely incorrect command, the interpreter creatively resolves it into rm -rf / and wipes your hard drive.”

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I’ve got /homes that are 10+ years old

it’s definitely a personal problem